Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Man with No Past, Co-Starring Jon Voight

This man of mystery has a wicked case of déjà vu. Ironically, he also amnesia. He doesn’t know who or what he is, but he is weirdly drawn to people who seem to recognize him, albeit vagely. Apparently, he fights for the innocent and just against those his nemesis leads astray, in morality plays that repeat over time, in different eras, throughout James Bamford’s Man with No Past, which is now available on VOD.

Ryder is not quite sure what he is doing in our world and his visions of fighting the same cast of characters in ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, and National Socialist Germany only confuse him more. Yet, he recognizes Morgan, a pro bono attorney who works out of her god-mother Shelly’s bar, but she is too grounded for past-life déjà vu. However, Shelly can tell he is something, because she has the
shine.

This time around, the Jon Voight character is Paul Sanborn, a powerful Trump-ish developer, whom the Mephistophelean Mr. Soach has once again led astray. Before, past Sanborn executed innocents in Germany and forced them into gladiatorial games in Rome, all for the sake of maintaining “order,” which is also ironic, since Soach’s name is an anagram for Chaos. This time he intends to clear his old working-class neighborhood to make way for his legacy-enshrining development. To overcome the opposition of a difficult city councilman, Soach convinces Voight to target the politician’s young daughter.

This is an oddball film that layers an unlikely metaphysical genre story over a grungy VOD action movie, sort of like Timothy Woodward Jr.’s
Checkmate, but the execution is far superior, because how could it not be? There is just no sugar-coating the cheap look of the historical scenes. However, the entire cast plays it straight with the utmost earnestness.

Adam Woodward is clearly most comfortably playing strong, silent types, so a role like Ryder suits his skill set. Conversely, Marton Csokas appears almost inspired by Steven Paul’s script as he hisses, preens, and generally chews the scenery as Soach. Charlotte Weston also brings some upbeat charm playing Shelly, which often gives the moody film a welcome lift.

However, Voight really elevates the proceedings by depicting the tragic personality flaws that eternally lead the successive Sanborns to commit terrible sins, even though he is never truly evil. Indeed, both the character and the performance are surprisingly interesting.

Bamford grinds out films like he produces them on an assembly line. Unlike
Air Force One Down, Shadow Land, and Utopia, this film does not feature the fictional country of Astovia, which is probably a good thing, since there has been a clear decline in marginal returns over the three films. Man with No Past still is not exactly great and it isn’t fully recommended, but it overachieves in a weird but memorable way. For what its worth, there are worse options out there. It is now available to rent on VOD platforms.